BLUE RIBBON SCHOOL

Connie Cassini was so nervous on the morning of her first day of teaching at St. Pius X School that she woke up with a migrane.

On Earline Michiels' first day at the Catholic elementary school in Lake Vista, she saved computer files on flimsy black squares called "floppy disks" and didn't even know what "placing a book order" meant.

But, after Cassini's 15 years in the classroom and Michiels' 21 years as the school's librarian, they're prouder than ever to have stuck around.

Both played a part in winning the "No Child Left Behind National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence" award this month, recognizing the school's academic superiority on a national level just a year after receiving accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a grueling process that took three years.

"This award is kind of the culminating achievement for the many years many of us have been around working together," said Pam Fulham, who's worked with St. Pius in various capacities for 30 years and has served as its principal for 17 years.

"Of course, all of this is always for the benefit of our students, who are outstanding," Fulham said.

According to its Web site, the National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence honors public and private K-12 schools that are either academically superior in their states or that demonstrate dramatic gains in student achievement.

St. Pius won the only national Blue Ribbon in Orleans Parish and was one of three schools in the state to win the award.

The other two schools were St. Rita School in Harahan and Glasgow Middle School in Baton Rouge.

"Everyone had a stake in it," said Cassini, who's taught religion and lab experiments. "It wasn't just won in the office. It was a joint effort. Everyone had something to do and had so much ownership."

Cassini said the best compliment came from a parent after learning about the award.

"Wait? Y'all weren't a Blue Ribbon school?" Kathy Gravolet asked Cassini. "I can't believe it. That school is so awesome. Y'all have always been blue ribbon to me."

St. Pius, located at 6600 Spanish Fort Blvd., opened in September 1953 with the Rev. Michael Killoughey as pastor and today is under the direction of Monsignor Clint Doskey.

What the faculty and administration felt most contributed to earning the recognition is the school's commitment to cross-curriculum learning.

Whenever Cassini is showing a group of children how to dissect a frog in science class, Michiels pulls all the books about frogs from her shelves and places them in the front for the pupils to leaf through during their library hour.

When the bell rings for computer class, the teacher in the lab has a PowerPoint presentation on the anatomy of frogs already fired up on the projector as the pupils file in. By the time they get back to science class, they're ready to write a prep school-style lab report or research paper, skills that have served St. Pius X students well in high schools throughout the area, teachers said.

"We've had 20 valedictorians and salutatorians since 1991," Fulham said. To keep track, she files away the letters of congratulations St. Pius X sends to its valedictory alums in a binder she calls "the student achievement book," alongside letters sent to National Merit semifinalists and other achievers.

"It's how we measure our success," Fulham said. "You have to look at the impact of our curriculum for our alumni when they go on."

"It's always, 'What do you need?' 'What can we do to help?' " Michiels said. "That's been the attitude even now, after 21 years. The faculty works that way. Even when my daughter-in-law was admitted to the hospital (for labor), they said, 'We'll take your classes. Go.' "

"Quite frankly, with the way the curriculum is organized, this is the best school I've ever taught at," Michiels said."

And while Cassini loved working at the Fairmont Hotel for 17 years, her previous job, the sense of camaraderie wasn't like St. Pius X's. When Hurricane Katrina sent her to work at another school, she said, "It wasn't the same. I missed my home."

Those sentiments make pupils like seventh-grader Todd Matthew happy.

With a Blue Ribbon pinned proudly to his gray sweatshirt, he searched for the right words to describe his feelings for St. Pius X.

"It's just plain, old awesome," Matthew said.